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Princess Elisabetta Antonietta of Fidenza
Princess Elisabetta Antonietta '(Elisabetta Antonietta Giovanna Lucrezia; 4th September 1625 - 12th September 1684), commonly mocked as the ''Brother's Lesser ''or '''''the Queen Without a Throne, was a Fidenzan princess of the House of Este, the eldest child of Francesco IV and the only child by his first wife, Queen Josepha. She was the heiress presumptive to the throne of Fidenza between 1625 and 1665, due to her difficult birth causing her mother to become barren and unable to produce any more children. She spent much of her life anticipating to be Queen, until her father remarried and produced a son, who would become Cesare VII. The Princess became known for her bitterness and went into obscurity during her later years. Princess Elisabetta was considered ugly by many, she was also barren and weak. She was an extremely bitter and unkind woman after the birth of her younger brother, becoming so filled with hate towards Cesare that she would refuse to correspond with any of her family, driving herself into self-imposed exile at the Castello Ursino, in Sicily. While her brother offered her honours and comfortable life at the court in Rome, she refused to answer him. Humouring her attempts to snub him, the King named her Princess of Ursino, '''the title by which she became known in correspondence for the rest of her days. Biography '''Birth and Events Princess Elisabetta was born on September 4th, 1625 at the Gran Palazzo di Roma. Her father was massively disappointed with the birth of a daughter, which created immediate bitterness between the girl and her father. The birth was extremely difficult on her mother, Queen Josepha, who was left weakened for the rest of her days by the birthing of the Princess. The Queen was left barren and infertile by the difficulty of her birth, which caused great sadness and difficulty within the Royal Family. Further damaging was the weakness of Elisabetta herself, for she was born with a curved spine as well as being smaller than she should, according to the physicians. Her father ordered the physicians to neglect and to let the Princess die if it could restore the Queen to full health and fertility. The Princess would not die, nor would the Queen be restored to health. The King, being wroth with the events of the birth, refused to acknowledge Elisabetta as heir presumptive to the throne, instead holding to the belief that his younger brother and her uncle, Prince Oberto, was the heir to the throne. This caused much confusion in the earliest years regarding the succession, as the law stated that even a daughter of a ruler preceded an uncle to the throne. Most accepted Elisabetta as heir presumptive, which eventually even the King would begrudgingly accept. Upbringing Princess Elisabetta was brought up to believe that she would be Queen of Fidenza and Italy, a prospect which excited her greatly. The Princess, who was considered ugly and sickly, was never given much respect in her father's court. She believed that, if she were to ascend to the throne, she would finally be treated like she was truly beautiful, as in her eyes, "all men adore a Queen". ''Most scoffed at the idea that the then sickly child would ever rule over the centuries old Kingdom, with a common belief being that Elisabetta would die before she reached adulthood. Hearing these rumours and speculations, Elisabetta herself vowed that she would not allow herself to die before she wore a crown, to show the lords who judged her what she was truly capable of. It was true enough that Elisabetta had a certain intellect, it was one of her only redeeming qualities with her weakness and envy. She was a scholar unlike any had been seen in Fidenza, even from an early age being seen with her nose deep in books and pondering the philosophies of the world. Her rather loose upbringing led to her developing ideas of her own upon issues, which was considered dangerous. She grew in cynicism from an early age, coming to question the idea of God. She read all of the scriptures in Latin over a long amount of time throughout her childhood, coming to the realisation that many of them conflicted each other. This would lessen her faith in God, contributing to her later decision to renounce Roman Catholicism. She was not given a good education, being mostly left to herself throughout her childhood. '''Heir Presumptive' As heir presumptive to the throne of Fidenza, there were some great expectations for Elisabetta. She was required to learn how to rule and to further her line, despite the physicians declaring that the latter would be quite impossible given her deformities. Nonetheless, Elisabetta set herself to the task of learning how to rule. The ideas given to her as heir would greatly increase her ambition and her drive for power, with her spending much of her time sitting sullenly, waiting for the day when she would be able to shine. Her father remained sceptical of her and did all he could to pull her away from books and people. He confined her to her chambers in the Palazzo, believing it would make her conform and listen to commands and orders plainly. Francesco IV did not anticipate the spirit his daughter truly showed, however, for she fought and she battled for her freedom on a daily basis. The King would eventually relent, with the screaming of the Princess becoming too damaging on his prestige to be allowed to continue. Even despite her status as heir, she was still treated with little respect. Men and women alike snickered at her deformities, such as her limp and slight hunch. She was considered hideously ugly when she grew into womanhood, so much so that no man wished to wed her even despite her being a future Queen. She was eventually forcibly wed to a cousin, Giacomo d'Este, though both were extremely unhappy with the match. Elisabetta had once sworn to herself she would never marry so as to not limit her own power when she came into her throne, as well as believing it unnecessary given that the physicians were adamant she would never have children. Elisabetta did not mind the idea of not having children, having seen what childbirth had done to her mother and how much they would detract from her ruling. She would have her uncle as her heir, she had decided. Given his mistreatment of her, she had grown to openly resent her father. The two were almost constantly arguing, their yelling and bickering being consistently heard from within the King's study. The ailing Queen Josepha did her best to heal the divide between father and daughter, though neither were particularly keen to listen to her. Nonetheless, her mother's death in 1658 would devastate Elisabetta. She was never particularly close to her mother, though she knew now that her father would surely take a second wife and that her inheritance could be in jeopardy. She attempted to push her father not to remarry, though the King remained adamant about it. In 1663, the King wed the Archduchess Amalia Louisa of Austria, who was even twenty years younger than Elisabetta was. The new Queen was young and healthy, which caused Elisabetta to live in fear of a pregnancy. Loss of Inheritance The new Queen would become pregnant in 1664, giving birth in January 1665 to a son they named Prince Cesare. Elisabetta was in despair after the birth, visibly snapping at servants and courtiers. She was heard crying in the night in the days following Cesare's birth. She was heard too publicly yelling curses about her "usurper brother", which led to her being incarcerated in her chamber. When allowed to see the young Prince, she could not bring herself to love him due to what his birth would do to her. She began to become a bitter and cruel woman around that time, becoming resentful towards her father, the Queen and her younger brother. WIP